I have an unprovable, admittedly ludicrous theory that, if all the passengers onboard a plane, simultaneous and adamantly doubted that the plane would be able to either take off, or more amazingly stay airborne… that the plane, mired in the overwhelming power of disbelief and negativity would touch back down again…
The power of positive thinking is a crucial, must have ingredient, to the success of absolute everything that we invest time and energy into, in the hope that it will turn out well. If for example, you set out in Sport, looking around at a scary opponent, a poor playing surface, terrible weather conditions and a hapless bunch of disengaged teammates…thinking you will lose, you are really tipping the scales in favour of that loss, before the event even starts.
Having worked for several years, across a variety of businesses, sectors, and countries – I have had multiple opportunities to see what “good looks like” and how a good company improves and gets better or starts to splutter.
It’s a mix of having a good Product or Service that people want (and then buy more of, recommend, and don’t complain about), or trash you on social media over.
Ideally your offering is socially good or at least not socially malevolent… which weaves in nicely with your workplace being a nurturing, inclusive and fun place to hang out for 9 hours…It makes the day go quicker if you can go to a nice place to work, sell something you believe in, get paid a salary that you feel shows you are valued…and not spend all your time trying to come up with new and imaginatively fresh ways to goof off…
More important than anything is the positive power of people at work. Looking around you do you see faces filled with energetic enthusiasm, day after day, or features flattened by fatigue? Do people believe in the company they joined or are they just taking a pay cheque in exchange for a minimum return, and could honestly be numbly hanging around anywhere in any company?
Maybe the big test is – Does everyone at work tell their friends, family, and others about how great their company is, and try to sell the products and services, because they think they have something so bloody amazing that their friends and family simply have to know about it?
As most small companies won’t have many, if any, Sales or Business Development people, or even much Marketing money – it’s the responsibility of all of us to make sure the company succeeds. Shouldn’t all of us be selling and championing “our company”, always?
If we all believe in the thing that pays for us to be there and we believe in the people around us, shouldn’t we all be proudly evangelising and selling to our network all day long – and bringing in great people to work with us? If not, are we in the right company, and are you right for that company?
“Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy, what are you doing?” The janitor at NASA Space Agency responded: “I’m helping put a man on the moon, Mr President.”
Shouldn’t we all feel that way?
Conversely, negativity and minimum effort seeps in, rots and stifles – de-energising everything – the business loses lift, can’t take off and rise…